University takes a day to be pink

Friday

Oct 31, 2008 at 12:01 AMOct 31, 2008 at 5:45 PM

Pink was Alfred University’s official color Wednesday. On a blustery and cold fall morning, a large group of AU faculty and students kicked off a breast cancer movement to help raise awareness and garner donations for breast cancer research.

Justin Head

Pink was Alfred University’s official color Wednesday.

On a blustery and cold fall morning, a large group of AU faculty and students kicked off a breast cancer movement to help raise awareness and garner donations for breast cancer research. The event capped a month and a half of preparation and hard work between students, faculty, staff and student organizations to support the Susan G. Komen Fund.

“I feel it's good to be a part of anything that raises money for anything that harms humanity right now. It’s not just breast cancer, it's anything that affects the world now, it’s any kind of cancer. My grandmother has lung cancer and I feel it’s necessary to help people who have things like that,” said Tyler Monroe, a senior from Livonia, N.Y.

Monroe was one of about 130 students who braved the face-numbing wind to don a pink T-shirt and take specific orders to construct a giant “human AU” for a photo and video the school is going to use to promote breast cancer awareness. Faculty communicated by walkie talkie from the press box in the stadium to the students on the field in order to make the AU symmetrical and the right size. A math major from the AU used a formula to mark where the students stood.

After the photo shoot, students made their way to the Powell Campus Center where a Pink Presidential Reception ensued, with AU?President Charles Edmondson offering remarks about the fundraiser and day's events. Pink foods and drinks were served at the reception. Edmondson commended the students for their civic-minded activism and expressed he was proud of their efforts.

"In organizing a community-wide program of awareness of cancer, our students have set an inspiring example of social responsibility and service. I could not be more proud of them or more impressed by the hard work they invested in this project. Anyone who cares about our future will find these young people to be a cause of hope and optimism,” said Edmondson via e-mail.

Ten minute intervals of the making of the “human AU” are going to be condensed into a a brief video that rapidly shows the whole process. The video is then going to be used on the schools Web site and posted on YouTube.

The school sold pink t-shirts for $10 that said “Keep Second Base Safe” and “Passionately Pink for the Cure” as well as other items like bracelets, wristbands, pins, rings and window clings. They also raised money through various other events like a Pink Skate Jam, pink fingernail painting and pink pumpkin carving contest. The school raised $730 in online donations and another $3,000 from all the items they have sold, said Brenda Porter, chairwoman of the movement and director of residential life at AU.

“I just got tired of sitting back while people were scared by this, I decided that I wanted to do something to make a difference,” said Porter.

She said she was amazed at how many student groups held different events and credited the tho co-chairs of the event — Jessica Marble and Kevin Kostyk — with doing the bulk of the work. The two worked with student body leaders, coaches, and AU faculty to spread news of the event by word of mouth, hung posters and distributed fliers.

All of the AU sports teams bought pink shirts and the men's soccer team wore pink headbands at its game Wednesday afternoon. The executive chef of AVI food services wore a pink chef outfit to work.

“It was really a nice thing to see because sometimes breast cancer is thought of as an older thing,” said Tom Boyle, program coordinator for the cancer service program of Allegany and Cattaraugus counties. Boyle is a representative for the Susan G. Komen Fund and was on campus with an interactive breast cancer display. Boyle had a silicone breast with six lumps in it. Students were encouraged to perform a breast exam to find the number of lumps and educate them as to the proper procedure behind a breast exam. Boyle said he was delighted to see the level of enthusiasm and amount of people that turned out to support cancer awareness. He also noted it was important that the issue of male breast cancer was discussed.

“Pink is not just a color for women, I’m proud to see so many of my fellow male peers wearing pink today,” said Kostyk.

Boyle will be the recipient of a large pink check AU?will give to him at later date.

In the evening, AU had breast cancer survivors, family members and friends share their story with students during an open-mic session with a slide show of them in the background.

“This event has really taken the campus by storm. Students, faculty and staff are all speaking out to help play a part and make a difference on our campus. I’m honored to be the co-chair of this event to help spread the awareness,” said Marble. Marble said she was happy about the turnout and said the school has plans to start doing this every year.

The organizers wanted to spread awareness throughout the community, too. Letters were sent out to local business owners requesting them to accept a collection can and encourage their employees to wear pink. Several local businesses raised money and supported the cause by wearing pink.

“They already have plans to make it bigger and better next year,” said Porter.